Discussion forums are a widely used activity in online courses. However, knowledge construction within online discussion rarely reaches higher levels. Therefore, it is important to understand which aspects of online discussion encourage learning and increase knowledge construction. This paper investigates the effect three Structured Divergent…

This article analyzes the responses of hundreds of future coaches from an introductory coaching course regarding the appropriateness of player and coach behaviors in various athletic scenarios. The scenarios epitomize ethical and sportsmanship behaviors across various sports and situations. The students read the situations and expressed their…

Many researchers argue that students must be meaningfully engaged in the learning resources for effective learning to occur. However, current online learners still report a problematic lack of attractive and challenging learning resources that engage them in the learning process. This endemic problem is even more evident in online collaborative…

In October 2010, Phil Wein, president of Emporium Luggage, was looking for ways to expand his retail luggage operation. Like many firms in the luggage industry, his leisure travel segment had been hurt by the 9/11 terrorist attacks, which forced several luggage retailers to retrench. More recently, the U.S. recession that started in 2008, and the…

This article describes a two-day, upper elementary social scientific inquiry lesson in which students investigate the representation of women in their textbooks by critically analyzing them. In the lesson, students are asked whether they think women and men get equal coverage in their textbook. The authors conclude that the students demonstrated…

The two-stage exam is a relatively simple way to introduce collaborative learning and formative assessment into an exam. Their use is rapidly growing in the physics department at the University of British Columbia, as both students and faculty find them rewarding. In a two-stage exam students first complete and turn in the exam individually, and…

This report describes the approach that REL Northeast and Islands (REL-NEI) used to guide its eight research alliances toward collaboratively identifying a shared research agenda. A key feature of their approach was a two-workshop series, during which alliance members created a set of research questions on a shared topic of education policy and/or…

Pedagogical strategies increasing rely on technology as a way to address challenges facing the contemporary higher education classroom. This study investigated the use of a tool designed with the specific purpose of student engagement in a large classroom. The tool allows students to post to a community based discussion in a manner similar to a…

The American adult education and literacy movement in the early twentieth century had its roots deep in the study and practice of democracy (Ramdeholl, Giordani, Heaney, Yanow, 2010). From Lindeman, Dewey, Laubach, Horton, to Heaney and Brookfield, a persistent theme is the indispensable relationship between democracy and adult education. For…

Teaching pregnancy prevention to large groups offers many challenges. This article describes the use of film clips, with guided discussion, to teach pregnancy prevention. In order to analyze the costs associated with teen pregnancy, a film clip discussion session based with the film "The Gloucester 18" was the keynote of a youth summit. The lesson…

This paper explains and illustrates a method of argumentative reconstruction that may be used in the teaching of stories. Without maintaining that argument is superior to narrative or that all narratives should be cast as arguments, I illustrate the benefits of this approach for critical thinking and the discussion that ensues when one seeks to…

Although elaboration has been investigated frequently, there is little evidence for the beneficial effect of elaboration in problem-based learning. A controlled experiment tested the effect of elaboration during problem-based discussion on recall. Sixty-seven students observed a video-recorded, problem-based discussion. In one experimental…

Class discussions about ethical, social, philosophical and other controversial issues frequently result in disagreement. This leaves a problem: has there been any progress? This article introduces and analyses the concept "collective epistemic progress" in order to resolve this problem. The analysis results in four main ways of…

In this article, authors Ellin Oliver Keene and Susan Zimmermann reflect on comprehension strategy instruction 15 years after the publication of their book, "Mosaic of Thought: Teaching Comprehension in a Reader's Workshop." They reassert their claim that to teach comprehension well, we must first read widely and scrutinize our own reading…

In this article, the author offers a discussion technique: the twice-around. A variant on the circular response discussion, the twice-around engages students by beginning with students' questions, ensuring equal time for all participants and inviting discussants to build on previous contributions. In the twice-around, participants sit in a circle,…